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Taking their morning walk, picking some of God’s bounty along the way. Alice Richards and Millie Blus found some ripe wild strawberries and a beautiful flower as they walked their two mile morning routine. <BR><BR>Alice had been walking this stretch alone for years and years (over 20) and her neighbor Millie has joined up with her for the last five. Both live on County 88, also known as McMahan Boulevard, which circles around Shagawa Lake going out one side of Ely and coming back around on the other. It is a heavily traveled road, greatly needing a wider shoulder for the bikers and hikers. <BR><BR>The women wave to everyone as they go by, and everyone waves back. Alice says they get out to walk every day, unless it is below 25 below zero or there’s a heavy downpour. That would detour them from walking. <BR><BR>“It’s my therapy. It starts my day off to get out here... and we smell the roses as we go along the road,” Alice says.

They came to Ely on the advice of their customers. The two men who own the newly-opened Ely Sportwear store at 21 East Sheridan Street were told that Ely was a great tourist town.<BR><BR>Mauricio Gutierrez and Habib Greco have made a clothing niche in Wisconsin with stores in Wisconsin Dells, Eagle River, Minocqua, and for eight years in Hayward. They recently purchased the building in Ely which had housed the North American Bear Center and prior to that, Bare Bones Studio.<BR><BR>Already the freshly-painted walls are lined with fleece pullovers, t-shirts, shorts and more. Their specialty is to have each design in several colors and sizes, each with embroidered decorations. The sport wear is for anyone, from child to adult. T-shirts can be embellished at no extra fee with any of the many colorful designs which feature wildlife.

It started as little more than a routine traffic stop.<BR><BR>It quickly escalated into a chase that extended outside of Ely, through Babbitt and Embarrass, with speeds topping 120 miles per hour.<BR><BR>And by the time it was done, the result was an arrest of an Ely man and the filing of several felony drug charges.<BR><BR>Franklin Alan Miller, 29, is accused of four controlled substance crimes - all connected with the illegal possession and sale of methamphetamine and cocaine.<BR><BR>Miller was arrested the morning of June 27, at the intersection of Highway 21 and 169, after allegedly leading authorities on a high-speed chase that began in Ely.<BR><BR>According to the criminal complaint filed in district court, Miller had over $800 in cash and plastic bags containing methamphetamine in his possession at the time of the arrest.<BR><BR>A subsequent search of his vehicle, and his home at 30 East Conan, recovered

Frank Salerno’s third stint as Ely’s mayor has easily been his most tumultuous.<BR><BR>Shortly after Salerno took office in 2003, a city council resolution opposing the U.S. military invasion of Iraq created a furor, divided the community, and resulted in widespread publicity.<BR><BR>Since then, the council has dealt with a string of difficult budget issues, including the elimination of Ely’s emergency dispatching service, created largely by reductions in state aid.<BR><BR>But Salerno said last week that hard times haven’t quenched his urge for the job.<BR><BR>When filings for this fall’s city elections open this week, Salerno intends to seek another two-year term in office.<BR><BR>“We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire,” said Salerno, who served as mayor twice during the 1990s and also spent two terms on the city council. “We’ve gone through some pretty hard times.

Byron Moren looked around his old classroom Thursday with a wide smile on his face.<BR><BR>It’s been 20 years since Moren had taught business education in the top floor room at Ely Memorial High School, and the typewriters that were a staple of Moren’s curriculum were long gone.<BR><BR>In their place were a century’s worth of memories - yearbooks, old school newspapers, band uniforms, letter jackets and other school memorabilia.<BR><BR>Moren’s old room was dubbed “The Remembering Room” for Thursday’s Day at School, the kickoff event to the 2004 Ely Memorial High School All-Class Reunion, and if the smiles worn by Moren and the hundreds of others who walked through the halls and school grounds were any indication, fond memories were the rule and not the exception.<BR><BR>“I think it’s just great,” Moren said during a break from shaking hands and renewing acquaintances with former students.

Talent spanning seven different decades will be on display Saturday night during the All-Class Reunion Entertainment Extravaganza.<BR><BR>Set for 7 p.m. at Washington Auditorium, the show will feature plenty of music and singing, some dancing and even a brief history lesson.<BR><BR>“Our theme is ‘School Days Remembered,’” said Darlene Nemanich, who joined Terri Muhvich in co-chairing the event.

The World Press Institute will again be allowing its fellows to visit Ely. The dates for the local visit from world class journalists are August 7-10. <BR><BR>The Ely Echo sponsored forum will be on Sunday, August 8 at the Grand Ely Lodge. The format will be similar to years past with journalists having a short time prior to the program to meet those in attendance as well as having the opportunity at lunch to sit with attendees. The ournalists arrive in the States on August 2 and depart Nov. 19 for their homelands.<BR><BR>Nations to be represented this year are as follows, with the country listed first, then the journalist’s name, job, media and city: <BR><BR>Bhutan - Mr. Ugyen Penjor, senior reporter, Kuensel, Thimphu;<BR><BR>Bulgaria - Ms. Petya Dikova, reporter, 24 Chassa, Sofia;<BR><BR>China - Ms. Wenjun Gu, news director, Dragon TV, Shanghi;<BR><BR>Ecuador - Ms.

Take Ely’s traditional Fourth of July celebration, add the fact that Independence Day falls on a weekend this year, and throw in the Ely High School All-Class Reunion on the side.<BR><BR>What do you get?<BR><BR>Perhaps one of the largest, most activity-filled Fourth of July celebrations in recent Ely history.<BR><BR>A full day of festivities, from an afternoon parade to the annual fireworks display over Miners Lake, is in the works.<BR><BR>Young Life Ely, the local branch of the national Christian youth organization, has taken over sponsorship of the festivities, in conjunction with the city of Ely.<BR><BR>“This is our third year and we’re trying to make it bigger and better than ever,” said Martha Scott, who heads Ely’s Young Life organization.<BR><BR>And while the bulk of the schedule is almost identical to that of previous years, a few new wrinkles and a natural tie-in with the class reunion make for an expan

The staff at the Northern Tier Boy Scout Base on Moose Lake has been looking forward to using three new buildings erected over the past year.<BR><BR>“This will make us more efficient,” said BSA program director Terry Schocke. <BR><BR>The new Bay Post building holds the sleeping bags, tents and other items in a brightly lit main room. <BR><BR>A convenient counter area makes it easy for visiting scouts to pick up their gear as they get ready to head out on a trip. <BR><BR>“We issue all of our trail gear here from packs to pots and pans,” said Schocke. <BR><BR>Next to the Bay Post is a new building where tents, personal flotation devices can be cleaned and hung up to dry. <BR><BR>“It’s like a big garage with pipes in the ceiling to hang things on,” said Schocke.